Monday, December 24, 2007

Stafford Rally on December 15th, 2007.

We had a little get together for Steve Stone on December 15th. It turned into a Stafford Rally of sorts with a total of 13 people and 11 Staffords. You can see some of the photos and commentary by Steve Stone by viewing this pdf document. StaffordRally2007.pdf

For all the photos go to this web address: http://www.staffordmall.com/StaffordRally2007.htm

Terry Stewart

Rioghal Show Off has arrived from South Africa.


Rioghal Show Off

The latest addition to our Stafford family is Grace (Rioghal Show Off). She arrived on a KLM flight from South Africa on December 12th, 2007. Grace is 14 1/2 inches and 30 pounds of pure Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Just a wonderful package of activity.

Visit her web page and view Grace's pedigree at: RioghalShowOff

Terry Stewart

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Rugar's first All-Breed dog show in 4 years.

Rugar participated in his first confirmation show in four years on October 21st and 22nd. He actually seemed to like the "in the ring" show part of the day. Overall he seemed pretty at ease with no problems with all the other dogs - but he was attentive of their presence. He showed himself to be a gentleman and a very good Stafford ambassador.

His results were excellent for an old guy. On Sunday, the 21st, he finished second in Open Dog. On Monday, the 22nd, he finished first in Open Dog, won Winners Dog and Best of Winners, and was awarded best of opposite sex. Yes, he was beaten by a girl for Best of Breed. But he did get to follow her around the ring real close. ;-)

Regards,

Terry

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Warmaster Go n Straight - He's here!


Rugar, Warmaster Go n Strait, is now making Stoutheart Staffords his home. Please drop by and visit us on the web at http://www.staffordmall.com/stoutheart.htm.

Terry

Thursday, July 19, 2007

A book report.


A BOOK REVIEW OF:
“Celebrating Staffordshire Bull Terriers” by Steve Stone (and others)

I’ve had a very hard time reading Steve’s new book and viewing the companion CD included inside the back cover; very hard indeed. You are probably asking why.

Simple; the Stafford is part of our lives, my wife Carolyn and I. We have so many anecdotes that support all the points that Steve and others write about in this book. We have also lost all but one of our Staffords in the last few months and miss them terribly. Each section reminds us of some event in our life with Staffords.

But putting my personal stuff aside I find the book and CD a mixed bag of good and bad.

THE GOOD

Pictures: lots and lots of pictures (photographs). The ones in the book pages are black and white but this does not detract from their unique value to Stafford fans. The CD has hundreds more photos in color. And unlike most other Staffords books; you haven’t ever seen most of these photos. Worth the price of the book just for the unique photos.

This is a book that, to me at least, puts everything together in one place. The contents span from the breeds founders, the type of people and environment that propelled such a unique strain as the Stafford, to the present day, and the truly all purpose dog that has blossomed forth into so many diverse activities and accomplishments.

The historical context running throughout every chapter. The fact that different people wrote chapters in the book and CD so you are not getting “one man’s opinion” like most other Stafford books.

Early showing, the war years, post-war years, Steve’s experiences founding the breed first in Finland and then in the USA. All is there. Breeding, showing, and health issues and then spanning to all the present activities that the Stafford is involved in such as flyball, obedience, coursing, weight pull and so on.

THE BAD

The chapters on rescue and breed specific legislation are experiences I do not wish to be reminded of; but both must be covered. But they are bad subjects for me personally.

But the BADDEST part of Steve’s creation; “Celebrating Staffordshire Bull Terriers” is:

 This book covers everything except how to raise your pup and potty train them.
 This book spans together all generations of Stafford fanciers; past, present and future. Living or not. This is bad for one book to cover it all.
 This book is the only Stafford book anyone will ever need in his or her library.
 Steve has ruined it for all future would-be writers of a book on the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Period.

THE CONCLUSION

Okay. These aren’t really bad things as in rotten or no good.

So actually, it isn’t a good or a bad book. It is a great book.

All the best,

Terry G. Stewart
http://www.staffordmall.com

Thursday, July 12, 2007